John Boehner’s friends plot tea party crackdown

The effort is playing out amid ongoing speculation that Boehner may retire after midterms. | Getty

Not all opposition is shrinking. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) has been actively talking about unseating Boehner. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), who voted for Cantor, said he meets with the speaker “at least once a month” and sees him at “different events around town.” He still doesn’t sound like he’ll vote for Boehner.

“I think he’s a great guy as an individual,” Yoho said. “I’d rather see a little more stronger, clear, concise leadership, with a direction.”

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Asked if he sensed conservatives rallying around any individual, Yoho said he didn’t “want to say anything right now.”

“I just don’t want to go there right now,” he said. “I don’t want to focus on that. I want to focus on getting our debt under control.”

Unseating any incumbent speaker is extraordinarily difficult. First, the House Republican Conference votes in a closed meeting by secret ballot to nominate a candidate for speaker. The winner needs the backing of just one more than half of the conference. If the vote were held now, Boehner would need the support of 117 Republicans to become the nominee.

Then there is a floor vote to elect the speaker in which the winning candidate needs 218 votes. If conservatives were able to rally around a single candidate, they would then need to persuade dozens and dozens more to rally around them.

If a candidate doesn’t garner 218 votes on the first round, a second vote is taken. If Boehner’s friends publicly say they will vote for no one besides him, it would be an attempt to show that any opposition will not be fruitful. Boehner will win in the end, it might just take some time.

Huelskamp, one of the driving forces to unseat Boehner, has already lost his seat on the Agriculture Committee. There are murmurs among Boehner’s friends about supporting a Republican against Huelskamp in 2016, though they haven’t backed an opponent for him during the current cycle.

One of the main hurdles Boehner’s opposition faces is there is no obvious candidate to take on Boehner. Cantor (R-Va.) won’t do it, neither will Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who used his visit to San Antonio to rule out a run for the top position in the House. Some conservatives have mentioned Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), but even his allies remember that he chafed when he was in leadership.

Put simply, the opposition hasn’t been able to stick together.

“We had 21 or 22 who said they would not vote for Boehner,” Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said about the speaker election in 2013. “They didn’t say they’d all vote for one person. The problem is whether they’ll keep their word.”

Jones, who voted for former U.S. Comptroller David Walker in 2013, called the current conversation about unseating Boehner, “not really organized,” and warned that if Republicans want to unseat him, they must begin planning with a candidate in June or July.

Asked if he would be part of such talks, he said, “If someone wants to talk to me, I’ll be glad to talk to him.”

This time, Boehner’s allies are talking, too. They say they aren’t going to be bullied by a small pocket on the right.

“If you disagree with a play call, you say so in the huddle,” said one GOP leadership aide aligned with Boehner. “You don’t go your own way on the field.”